The Unanticipated Kiss

In those years Allahabad was considered a highly preferred destination for the preparation of civil services exams. Many of the ambitious lower-middle-class hard-working students from hinterlands aspired for possessing intimidating red light vehicles along with legally bestowed administrative authority. These students nursing high career dreams were compellingly lured to the academic milieu of the city.

Carrying a resin made bag dangling behind my shoulders containing some clothes, books, stationery and some eatables prepared by my mother I alighted the train at Allahabad platform. Though the city was new to me the inner enthusiasm of the possibility of fruition of a long-cherished goal hastened my pace towards the exit gate.

I hired a hotel near the station area for a temporary stay till I got a room from where I was to transform my modest life into something extraordinary. After retiring at the hotel room the next day I roamed around the residential areas where I was advised by the hotel staff for the mushrooming presence of rooms and flats for bachelors.

Till afternoon I kept on pressing the doorbell of several houses enquiring about the availability of the room. But unfortunately, everywhere the buildings and apartments were found teeming with students. Every landlord expressed their commiseration for the absence of vacated rooms. The landlords comprising adults, old ladies peering from inside their thick glassed spectacles as if secretly examining my traits of being a good renter, and coughing elderly males- all consoled me of their helplessness.

After walking for almost an hour in the scorching heat of summer I entered a street where there were visibly posh homes, unlike earlier streets where there pervaded an air of shabbiness and filth. My gaze fell upon a beautiful house grandiosely standing at the extreme corner of that very street. I felt hypnotised at the magnificence of that abode. Ignoring every passing-by building I straightway reached its gate. I pressed the doorbell and waited diffidently for the appearance of the house-owner.

Almost after five minutes the gate creaked and opened a little. A lady in her early thirties eagerly peeped out her face throwing an alien glance at me. She was extremely fair-complexioned and slim in appearance. Her shoulders were thin and bony. She was having sharp inquisitive eyes and a perennial decent charm occupied her face.

Though she was silent her gesture demanded an explanation for my intruding presence at her home.

“Madam, my name is Kishan. I belong to the Kushinagar district of Uttar Pradesh. I am looking for a room for preparation of civil services” I said pretending more exasperated facial expression than real.

The lady inspected me minutely from tip to toe. Her suspicious face slowly shifted to a mild and soft expression.

She remained silent for a stretched duration of time perhaps mulling over the finality of her verdict.

“See, usually I do not rent my house. However, I can allow you to live in that asbestos thatched room if you find it suitable to adjust over there” she said in a soft and low voice. She gestured with her right hand’s index finger towards a poky room lying at one corner in the backyard of the house.

I felt that ultimately destiny had exported me to a proper place where there existed a silent and calm atmosphere added by sprawling aesthetic charm in the form of a well-managed garden. The ambience of the house was charming.

“See, I live alone in this house and by God's grace, I do not have any dearth of money. Since you have come here for a worthy cause so you can live in my home by paying any amount that suits your affordability” she said in a concerning tone.

I was bubbling with joy from within and out of oblivious elation I even didn’t ask her for showing me the inner glance of the room.

I asked her permission to shift my belongings upon which she nodded courteously. She also apprised me of the location of the bathroom which was a small congested wooden walled box-like structure thatched with a faded black plastic sheet.

There was a very contrasting and in fact discriminating difference between the splendour of that mansion and the shabbiness of the habitat that I was allowed to live in. But there were two major factors that set my decision to choose that very habitat. Firstly the rent fell comfortably within my affordability and secondly the outer ambience of the mansion was as appealing to the eyes as the favourite resort of people with artistic fondness and surplus money.

For one year things went very normal. I joined a coaching institute and went on improving my academics. I used to prepare my food in my room. I rarely cared about the affairs of my landlady though her solitude was a matter of curiosity and astonishment for my sociable mind. However, I always felt it an encroaching act to delve into her private affairs of life.

It was the month of July. There was heavy rain since morning. I decided to skip my coaching. During the evening when the rain subdued I heard a gentle knock at my gate which I had bolted from inside. As I unbolted my room I was surprised to see my landlady standing at the gate. Contrary to her general countenance today there was a captivating smile on her face. Since I had never seen her smile so at the moment it appeared a bit awkward to my mind.

She asked me affectionately to follow her to her mansion. I was bound to obey her order because it was at her mercy that I was able to continue my academic aspiration with quite a comfort in an unknown and expensive city. As I entered the entrance hall of the mansion I was gawking enchantingly at the terrific sculptural design and perfectional decorative arrangement of the house.

She told me to take a seat on the sofa and she went inside. After almost twenty minutes she returned with a kaolin made plate carrying two cups of coffee and some snacks. Her dress was changed. She wore a loose-fitting white gown with a brownish lace tied around her waist.

Placing the plate on the table which was having a glassy surface she sat beside me. She sat so close to me that the fragrance of sweet perfume emanating from her body intoxicated my brain. As she leaned forward to hand me the cup of tea my gaze inadvertently fell upon the flowery imprint of her white bra. I immediately turned my gaze to counter this illegitimate gaze.

For almost half an hour she kept chatting with me in a very sweet, polite and chirpy manner. Suddenly she dragged me closer and implanted a strong kiss upon my cheeks. I felt nervous. The apparent reason for my nervousness may be the age gap of almost ten years between us. However, I condoned her impulsive kiss upon my cheeks.

She extended an affectionate glance at me. A glance that was visibly devoid of any perverse temptation but commensurate to the love craved by an orphan. Her gaze suggested that she was pathetically craving for my nearness. A hunger where sex seemed secondary and diminutive. An eye expressing a genuine urge for care and emotional bestowment. I was filled with dilemmatic hesitation when she further pulled me closer to her and kissed my lips. It was for the first time that I was kissed upon my lips by a female. Frankly stating - Till that age I was technically virgin and rather totally naive in the art of kissing. But the fact is that at the moment I surrendered myself to her impulsive wish till the overpowering grasp of her lips over mine eventually pacified. The taste of alien saliva which vigorously drenched my tongue and mouth made me somewhat uneasy. As soon as she loosened her grasp over my neck I stood and went to the washbasin, rubbed my teeth with the middle finger of my right hand, gargled hastily and spit out the greasy aversive pasty saliva which had quietly intruded my mouth.

As I returned from the washbasin she was impressively smiling at me. Perhaps smiling at my naivety. Her smile steadily reached a stage of delightful giggling.

After this very incident, I was thinking profoundly about my ambition as well as the expectation of my family members. But simultaneously a gripping sense of ego nagged my manhood. I was caught in a quandary. I was also convinced that the act of my young landlady was not absolutely perverse. Given our lonely stay inside the confined boundary of a mansion for since last one year might naturally trigger this kind of situational episode. But I was not at all prepared for such casual and sudden intimacy.

Contrary to my expectation after that day, I was taken good care of by my landlady. Suffering a discriminatory life for almost one year the gap between us considerably vanished. We shared the same dining table for our lunch and dinner. It was in those days that I came to know that she is a widow. And her husband has left behind a huge legacy ensuring her secure survival.

We always restrained from discussing that temperamental kissing incident and curbed it within our hearts as a common phenomenon of human indulgence.

Till then I had also cleared the civil services mains exam and was waiting for the interview.

In the month of April, the final result was announced. I was ecstatic to get ninety-eighth rank among the list of finally selected candidates.

My landlady was ebullient with joy at my success. She hugged me tightly. She awarded me with a grand feast at a posh restaurant in the town.

While vacating the room my landlady escorted me to the railway station in her personal car.

As the train chugged through the platform I could see through the open window the thick drops of tears flowing down her cheeks.

She kept on looking at me and continued slowly hurling her right hand's palm as a gesture of farewell till the train faded into the horizon.

In life, many relations have no defined connotation but sometimes they leave an indelible impact upon our memory...!!!